Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont CGU Faculty Publications and Research CGU Faculty Scholarship 1-1-2001 Grenades and Land Mines, Japanese Robert J. Bunker Claremont Graduate University Recommended Citation Bunker, Robert J. "Grenades and Land Mines, Japanese." World War II in the Pacific: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, 2001. 210-211. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the CGU Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in CGU Faculty Publications and Research by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 210 Grenades and Land Mines, Japanese nese factories This conference presented a belated justification for the were idle or only partly productive and that Pacific war. Part of the Joint Declaration of the Greater new military pilots could receive only the most rudimen­ East Asia Conference read: tary tram mg. In the end, the sphere did nor serve the purpose either The United States of America and the British Em­ of uniting East Asia against rhe Allies or of harnessing the pire have in seeking their own prosperity oppressed region's economy to the Japanese war effort. By the end other nations and peoples. Especially in East Asia, of the war, the economy of East Asia was devastated not they indulged in insatiable aggression and exploi­ only from war damage and the dislocation of markets but tation, and so ught to satisfy their inordinate am­ also from the effects of Japanese oversight, which was fo­ bition of enslaving the entire region, and finally cused solely on the war effort. they came to menace seriously the stability of East Despite rhe eventual defeat of Japan, the Japanese oc­ Asia. Herein lies the cause of the present war. cupation did speed the dissolution of the great European colonial empires-although the British, French, and (For some reason the French imperialists were nor in­ Dutch were hardly aware of this development. In Viet­ cluded in this bill of indictment.) Angered by this ex­ nam a resistance movement under Ho Chi Minh was or­ ploitation, the Japanese had risen up and repelled the ganized and bloodied against the Japanese occupiers. In Caucasian exploiters, "liberating their region from the Burma and Indonesia, local forces were trained and na­ yoke of British-American domination, and ensuring their tionalist leaders were encouraged, leading directly to later self-existence and self-defense." The slogan "Asia for the independence movements. Although India was never oc­ Asiatics" neatly summed up the role of Japan as supposed cupied by Japan, the Indian National Army and the Free liberator. India Provisional Government helped inspire rhe Indian Although the Japanese insisted that the sphere was not population on their quest for independence. Korea was an empire, they did feel racially superior to their fellow liberated from Japanese occupation, and Formosa (Tai­ Asians. Along with T hailand, Japan was the only Asian wan) was returned to Chinese control. nation which had not been colonized or defeated by the Overall, rhe utter failure of the Greater East Asia Co­ Western powers. The Japanese language was taught in the Prosperity Sphere did serve to discredit Japanese imperi­ schools of the newly conquered territories, and new text­ alism. Since the war, Japan has demonstrated irs convic­ books were introduced. The arrogance of some Japanese tion that the path to a sphere of economic influence and so ldi ers also served to turn the natives away from their prosperity in East Asia is through trade and economic propaganda. And, always serving as a grim reminder, there expansion, not military conquest. was the example of]apan's atrocious treatment of the Chi­ nese. Within rhe new territories the economies were ad­ FURTHER READINGS ministered by the Japanese in ways that contributed to Beasley, W. G. japanese ImperiaLism, 1894-1945 (1987). the war effort bur nor necessarily to the well-being of Jones, F. C. japans New Order in East Asia: Its Rise and inhabitants. Military purchases were paid for in military FalL 1937-1945 (1954). scrip, which led to inflation later in the war. At least rhe Lebra, Joyce C. japans Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity former colonialists had paid in dollars, pounds, or francs Sphere in WorLd Wtzr II (1975). for what they took out of the area. john E. Moser Neglect by the Imperial Japanese Navy of convoy duty resulted in heavy loses of Japanese freighters and tankers to U.S. submarines. Thus the maritime sinews that were to bind the sphere to Japan were almost severed. Rice Grenades and Land Mines, Japanese exportS to Japan from Indochina, Thailand, and Burma Two forms of infantry weapons-grenades and land were reduced from 1.4 million metric tons in 1942 to mines-complemented the small arms used by Japanese 74,000 tons in 1944. Iron ore from the Philippines army and naval landing forces in World War II. These dropped to a mere 10 percent of prewar levels. Of the 50 forces employed numerous types of hand grenades, which million barrels of oil produced in 1943, only 10 million generally ranged in weight from about 10 ro 20 ounces. barrels of crude and 5 million barrels of refined actually !he Model 91 (1931) fragmentation hand grenade was reached Japan. In 1944, those figures had dropped to 1.6 tdentified by its black, serrated, cast-iron body; brass million barrels of crude and 3.3 million barrels of refined. safety cover; and perforated base-propellant container. Irs This shortage of raw materials and fuel meant rhar Japa- fuse had an 8- to 9-second burning time. Grenades and Land Mines, U.S. 211 The Model 91 was thrown by hand or launched by grenade, based on the German model, utilizing a cup­ means of a rifle adapter via a special rail assembly. Al­ type rifle adapter. rhough it could also be launched by either rhe Model 10 The Japanese military employed three basic types of (1921) or rhe Model 89 (1929) 50-mm grenade dis­ land mines and a standardized type of Bangalore torpedo charger via the base-propellant charge, the heavier Model (described below). The Model 93 (1933) mine was called 89 discharger was used almost exclusively. The Model 97 the "rape-measure mine" because it looked like the case (1937) fragmentation hand grenade was almost identical of a rape measure. This pressure-sensitive mine was ro rhe Model 91 except that it had no base-propellant painted yellow or olive drab and weighed about 3 pounds. charge, so that it could nor be launched or discharged, It was used for both antipersonnel and antitank purposes. and it had a 4- to 5-second delay. The Model 97 was The Model 99 (1939) armor-piercing mine was referred issued to all frontline Japanese troops and could also be to as the "magnetic antitank bomb" or the "magnetic employed as a booby trap. armor-piercing grenade." Four magnets were attached ro The Model 99 Kiska (1939) hand grenade had a this flat, disc-shaped mine, which allowed it to be placed smooth cylindrical body with a flange at either end. This onto a tank or against the iron door of a pillbox. These grenade was armed by removing the safety pin and strik­ mines were filled with TNT and weighed 2 pounds, 11 ing the head of the fuse assembly against a hard object; ounces. They were usually coupled together for a pene­ the grenade was then immediately thrown, and it ex­ trative effect of up to 1)4 inches of armor plate. 1.1 ploded in four to five seconds. The Model 99 was also The Model 96 (1936) mine was used both on land I q launched by means of a rifle-type or cup-type Modell 00 and under water. It looked like the top half of a standard rifle adapter; when launched, it had a range of about 100 spherical naval mine, weighed about 106 pounds, and had yards. The Model 23 grenade (year of origin unknown) two projecting lead-alloy contact horns. Detonation oc­ was both thrown and used as a booby trap. Ir looked curred as a result of pressure applied to either horn; the somewhat like the Model 97 but had lugs and rings at­ pressure crushed a glass vial of electrolytic fluid contained tached to irs side so it could be anchored in place. It was within rhe horn, which triggered a chemical electric fuse. filled with granular TNT; its fuse was ignited by a pull The Bangalore torpedo was olive drab in color and string and had a 5-second delay. consisted of a common piece of 2-inch pipe, about 40 to The Japanese also used a high-explosive stick hand gre­ 46 inches long, which was packed with TNT and cyclon­ nade with a "potato-masher" shape that had been used by ire. Threaded ends on these 10-pound pipe bombs al­ German forces in World War I. It had a wooden handle lowed for an indefinite number of them to be linked to­ and a metal cap, and its 4- to 5-second fuse was armed gether. The Bangalore was activated by pulling a lanyard, by removing the metal cap so that the pull ring inside the which fired a friction primer, and was commonly used to handle could be reached. Two forms of incendiary gre­ destroy barbed-wire entanglements. One variant was filled nades also existed. One was a white-phosphorus-filled with 6 pounds of picric acid and was employed as an !h-kg grenade which was thrown or projected from the antitank mine.